If you just try to make rational arguments about why people should care about Congo and how 5 million people have died, then people tend not to be receptive. But once you've created a connection of empathy, rational arguments can play a supportive role.

Nicholas D. Kristof

Categorized in : People Supportive Empathy

The greatest threat to extremism isn't drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.

Nicholas D. Kristof

girl reading book

We, as Americans, have won the lottery of life and the distinction between us and people living in Kalighat is not that we are smarter, not that we're harder working, not that we're more virtuous - it's that we're luckier.

Nicholas D. Kristof

virtuous distinction people

If only women are talking about women's rights, then the issue has failed from the start. If you think about the Holocaust, that wasn't just a Jewish issue. Civil rights weren't just a black issue.

Nicholas D. Kristof

rights talking thinking

It's important not to demonize [Donald's] Trump voters.

Nicholas D. Kristof

trump voters important

So let us be clear about this up front: We hope to recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking women's power as economic catalysts. That is the process under way - not a drama of victimization but of empowerment, the kind that transforms bubbly teenage girls from brothel slaves into successful businesswomen. This is a story of transformation. It is change that is already taking place, and change that can accelerate if you'll just open your heart and join in.

Nicholas D. Kristof

teenage girl drama

Individual storytelling is incredibly powerful. We as journalists know intuitively what scientists of the brain are discovering through brain scans, which is that emotional stories tend to open the portals, and that once there's a connection made, people are more open to rational arguments.

Nicholas D. Kristof

emotional powerful people

I think that [Donald] Trump is frankly a bigot. He has a racist history.

Nicholas D. Kristof

trump racist thinking

In much of the world, the most dangerous thing a woman can do is become pregnant.

Nicholas D. Kristof

dangerous can-do world

The way you get leaders to care about issues of conscience is to apply political pressure. It's less a question of persuading leaders directly and more trying to build a social movement that holds their feet to the fire.

Nicholas D. Kristof

issues fire feet

Women aren't the problem but the solution. The plight of girls is no more a tragedy than an opportunity.

Nicholas D. Kristof

girl tragedy opportunity

You don't need to invade a place or install a new government to help bring about a positive change.

Nicholas D. Kristof

government literature needs

Guilt-tripping people does not work; they tend to be turned off.

Nicholas D. Kristof

people

In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the twentieth century, it was the battle against totalitarianism. We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality around the world.

Nicholas D. Kristof

struggle challenges believe

In general, talking about human rights tends to be very persuasive for people who care about human rights.

Nicholas D. Kristof

rights talking people

It is better to inconsistently save some lives than to consistently save none.

Nicholas D. Kristof

diplomacy consistently

I think when hundreds of thousands of lives are on the line, you might have to set aside some principles.

Nicholas D. Kristof

lines principles thinking

If the U.S. wants to help people in tsunami-hit countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia - not to mention other poor countries in Africa - there's one step that would cost us nothing and would save hundreds of thousands of lives. It would be to allow DDT in malaria-ravaged countries.

Nicholas D. Kristof

ddt sri-lanka country

Most of us employ the Internet not to seek the best information, but rather to select information that confirms our prejudices .

Nicholas D. Kristof

internet prejudice information

Neither left nor right has focused adequately on maternal health

Nicholas D. Kristof

maternal-health focused left

The news media's silence, particularly television news, is reprehensible.

Nicholas D. Kristof

news media silence